Mobility plan preview raises questions at Planning Commission

At a special called Jan. 18 meeting, the Planning Commission got its first look at the beginnings of the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, what will be an amendment to the city’s comprehensive plan, Imagine Austin. The plan is still in its early stages, but some commissioners expressed concerns that the forecasts being created to develop the plan’s priorities may rely too heavily on future density as an indicator.

When adopted, the Strategic Mobility Plan will seek to provide a course of action to mitigate Austin’s transportation problems in the same way that the Strategic Housing Blueprint (adopted last April) seeks to address Austin’s housing needs. Today, it is estimated that 74 percent of Austin residents prefer to travel alone in their car over the other transit options.

City staff and consultants have been collecting feedback from the community for the past year and are currently in the process of fashioning three separate plan scenarios that will be shared through an online survey with the public on Feb. 24. Each scenario will represent differing degrees of transportation programming, investment and policy, but Annick Beaudet with the Transportation Department emphasized that the scenarios should not be interpreted as the plan itself, only tools being used to gather information.

Planner Cole Kitten explained how the scenarios would employ the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s travel demand model, which simulates how Austinites go to and from work based on housing and job statistics. If CodeNEXT is adopted and rezones the city’s arterial corridors in a way that increases density, Kitten said that he would expect that the return on investment for transportation improvements would be greater.

The review timeline for the mobility plan is just behind that of CodeNEXT, with the plan scheduled to be drafted over the summer and scrutinized in the fall. Beaudet said that this buffer would allow staff and consultants to adjust the plan based on the final product of the Land Development Code rewrite, if it passes. Of course, there is no guarantee that CodeNEXT will be adopted on time; the third draft, which was supposed to be released last November, is now being published on Feb. 12.

Additionally, Opticos Design is consulting for both CodeNEXT and the mobility plan, and both teams are also sharing the same sub-consultant, Kimley-Horn.

Still, some commissioners posited that the coordination between the two may turn out to be more of a crutch. Commissioner Nuria Zaragoza said that an increase in density has not historically translated to an increase in ridership. “Yet that seems to be the only piece we look at,” she said. “I see all these (vertical mixed-use) projects going up, but the bus stop has nobody in it.”

Beaudet said that Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority representatives would be able to describe the other variables used in the model at a future meeting. Even so, Commissioner Conor Kenny said he was still skeptical that the assumed future density would pan out as anticipated, regardless of what the CodeNEXT map ends up looking like, and that the assumption may skew the travel demand model’s projections.

According to an updated schedule discussed at the meeting, the Planning Commission expects to turn in a final recommendation on CodeNEXT sometime in May.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.

Do you like this story?

There are so many important stories we don't get to write. As a nonprofit journalism source, every contributed dollar helps us provide you more coverage. Do your part by joining our subscribers in supporting our reporters' work.

Key Players & Topics In This Article

City of Austin Planning Commission: This commission addresses issues of land use as assigned to it by Austin's City Code. These include the abilities "[t]o make and amend a master plan, recommend approval or disapproval of proposed zoning changes and control land subdivision within neighborhood planning areas and submit, annually, a list of recommended capital improvements." It has sovereign authority, or the right to make final decisions on certain cases.

CodeNEXT: CodeNEXT is the name given to the land development code rewrite process undertaken in the early 2010s by the City of Austin.

Related Stories

The Planning Commission recommended a rezoning Tuesday for an East Austin venue known as Sekrit Theater that will enable the owner to turn the two-acre plot into a tiny housing development, with some conditions.The owner, Austin artist Beau Reichert, requested…

At its Oct. 23 meeting, the Planning Commission found itself reeling at a request for vertical mixed use on a rezoning case in Windsor Park at 6203, 6205 and 6207 Berkman Drive. The applicant presented two options that were agreed…

Austin Monitor

Five days a week, we bring you the news. Austin Monitor is owned by the Capital of Texas Media Foundation, which purchased the publication on Oct. 4, 2013. We stick to the facts. We strive to get it right and be fair to all; when we err we correct it fast.